Page 29 (1/2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The rasp of the side door opening was loud, and heart pounding, I slid across the seat and followed Pierce out We were at a sloping park where the streetcars turned around The grass was cut and the bushes were manicured Across the street, where the beach was, there was a sht once have been a public bathroom but was now boarded up The as brisk by the water, and I sniffed, not bothering to tap a line

It figured that Ku’Sox would be down here Regular h, and I s white plate Here I am, Ku’Sox Come take a bite

My shoes hit the pave how they had found me a pair so fast when the city had come to a standstill They weren’t new

"Rachel, you said you had so for us to do?"

I forced the worry out of my eyes as I turned to Pierce "Keep me alive when it’s over?" I said weakly, and he took esture, and it only s were clearer to ers a squeeze before I pulled away and turned to Vivian There was a radio playing sos, trying to place the sound Otherwise, it was silent, rubble strewn about the edge of the shore On the bay, it was beautiful, not a car on the bridge or a boat running out to Alcatraz Hi, Mary Eat your toast and kill your ic It’s not worth it

I didn’t understand this My entire life would be decided in the next five ood people, and here I was delighting in the smell of the seaweed and how the sun shone on the tiny little bugs darting on the hard-packed shore

"Vivian," I said, forcing myself to look back to her "Oh, Vivian," I said, softer when I saw her fear

"I’ "Trent isn’t answering his phone I’ I think he flew back to Cincinnati with his little girl What else can I do? I want to help"

The woht Ku’Sox for three days, seen two of her peers eaten alive And yet she stood by ht to the last I didn’t want her here I needed her in the city finding me a collective

My hair lifted in the wind off the bay, and I so back to the city forthe IS "driver" had left the keys

"L-leave you?" she sta her back to the van "I can help!"

"I’o back Stop at every church you can find There are people there, right? Get the wide "For a collective," she said breathily, realizing what I was asking A city-wide collective hadn’t happened since the Turn It was both a warning and a gathering An act of trust I didn’t know if they would help or not, but if they didn’t, then I would fail and they would suffer

"I’ll do it," she said, her voice treht a fire in the et you a collective I proavewhen she stepped back

I blinked fast, trying not to tear up "Thanks," I said, and her dusty shoes with the little bows scraped as she started to drift backward "Don’t take too long"

Nodding, she turned and went back to the van The door creaked as it opened, and her slight figure made the jump inside "At least there won’t be any traffic," she said, and the door thuainst the abandoned buildings as the engine turned over I felt Pierce’s presence beside ether atched her pull away The sound of the van quickly vanished, and ere alone Sort of Ku’Sox was here soether and breathed in the last of the exhaust fu beach, do you?" I asked, and Pierce took my shoulders and turned our backs on the bay to look up to the hills of San Francisco Fro looked normal, if a shade quiet and with the air markedly clean If I had to do this with someone, I could do far worse than Pierce

"Rachel," Pierce said, the depth of the e to say so me cursed But I was a de them I didn’t want to hear it

"Wait," I interrupted, turning to find that he was too close I didn’twhen I foundhi as he squinted from the wind off the bay The slant to his eyes was deterth to back up whatever he deeAl, and it was breaking o because I could love you forever

I couldn’t love him It would destroy him slowly, and I didn’t want that

I leaned toward hi I didn’t stink of the ever-after and demons He blinked as he sawbehind ers My head tilted and my lips opened They met his in a shock of ley line, and I quivered

I felt a tear slip out as Pierce heldwhen our lips parted I didn’t knohy I’d done it, except that I ht die today At least I’d die in the sun

"Pierce," I said softly, our kiss ended but our foreheads still touching "I can’t-"

We shifted apart, and he put a finger to my lips I could taste his salt, and I blinked fast

"I know," he said, his eyes flicking behind aze "Don’t say it," he asked "Wait until the sun sets tonight, and if we are both here to see it, thenyou are safe and yet not to bethat God has taken you home, because there is no way in hell that that de to kill you I won’t allow it"

There was a lurit of sand in the a step back until his hands fell froma lie that wasn’t there, and I took his hands "I don’t love you," I said again, ether, and from that,to happen Ever I am a demon"

He took a breath to protest, his eyes wild and his denial obvious "You are not"

My eyes dropped to his hands holdingno witch, no ree There’s no way around it It’s not like I wanted this" My voice had gotten squeaky, and I looked up, seeing panic in hi back a tear before it showed "It doesn’t mean I’m bad, but it does mean that there is no way that" I stopped It was too hard to say

His grip on htened, but I felt dead inside "I’m not afraid" Pierce’s hand drew me closer, and I resisted until he eased his pull

"I’d never hurt you," I protested, re forhis life for me What person wouldn’t be huer lighting his eyes "Idifficult If it was easy, then everyone would find it But have it your way"

He turned away, and I reached after hi as my hand dropped It was better this way "Perhaps you should call hi at the hills

I nodded, even as my stomach clenched I’d told him I didn’t love him, and he didn’t seem to care I’d told him I was a demon, and he’d said so what? Then told me love was hard I knew that, but it shouldn’t be impossible

Shoes silent on the pave up onto the cement bench next to the boarded-up restroo runes, and my feet spread wide, I cupped my hands around my mouth Damn it, why couldn’t I have a normal life?

"Ku’Sox!" I shouted up into the park,that belongs tobouncy beach music With a sudden snap, it vanished My pulse ha with his hands clasped, ready to fight for me, even after I’d told him I didn’t love him Why?

"Just a minute!" Ku’Sox shouted back, and my lips parted I did not believe this Just a ed, and I juht want to put soested, forcing un

Pierce put his hands on his hips, flicking his duster back "You ht want to put yourself in a bubble to do the sa Ku’Sox on without Al? But he had Ivy and Jenks, and I wasn’t going to wait

A soft scrape of boot on stone pulled my head around and I felt the blood drain from my face It was Ku’Sox, his ar her arm painfully behind her as he forced her down the park steps

"Let o, you freak!" I heard her sputter as she strained to break his grip, but it was useless One of her eyes was black, and she had a split lip

"Jenks!" I shouted as they reached the bottorip sweaty and the ley line I was connected to see to jump in me "Where’s Jenks?"

Ku’Sox stopped in the ray hair close to his head, shining in the sun like raven wings Looking as if he was enjoying hied Ivy around to be his shield "Tell her what happened to the pixy," he said softly, whispering it into her ear as his eyes bored into mine and the wind played with his hair

My heart almost stopped Jenks

"He’s okay!" Ivy said, Ku’Sox’s hand going white-knuckled as he gripped her throat "Short dick here had to lock hi his ear off"

Ku’Sox bore down on her, and she choked, falling to one knee

"Hey!" I shouted, taking a step forward, splat gun raised "Let her go It’s me you want" God, I felt as if I were in a western Hand over the little lady there, partner, and we’ll settle this likehis s her up and dragging her through the rubble that littered the street Her foot got wedged between two rocks, and he yanked her free My face went blank at heron the butt of o, and come over here I’ll whisper in your ear how bothered I am"

Confident and sure of himself, Ku’Sox stopped at the curb His hand opened, and Ivy fell, her elbow slicing open on a chunk of ragged concrete Head down so her hair hid her face, she pulled herself together, lashing out with her good foot,Ku’Sox dance sideways

I shot at hi it

Ivy, though, was free, and my heart quickened I slowly continued to draw that broken energy into anize it

"I only snapped every bone in her body andrabbed her shoulder and pinned her where she sat "It took me a day before I realized you were unconscious and not siht, why stop noas bored, so she got a little irl?"

I seethed, my hands in fists, as Ivy didn’t look up

"It was only play," Ku’Sox was saying "Nothing pery fro, I threw it There was probably little besides eating her that Ku’Sox could do to Ivy that Piscary hadn’t done already, but so his feet out fro away before the dey into her Ku’Sox fell, ary arched to hiht above hi over him I knew such a common spell wouldn’t hurt hiered to her feet and was li fast to Pierce, not me Wise woman I needed room to work, and I shifted my stance for better purchase

"Oh, really Grow up, will you?" Ku’Sox ot to his feet and his bubble flickered out of existence

There was a tweak onanything but a well-drawn circle, I dove to the side, landing withbetween Ku’Sox and me I watched his black ball of nastiness thurit sprayed up, a tiny crater hissing as it cooled to a green,boys do it," he said with satisfaction, but I couldn’t see hi before he si as I hurriedly sketched a circle around h it, but there were no bells ringing yet I had to stall hie of the building and looked, seeing her with Pierce, crouched beside a broken bench They were both inside an uninvoked circle, relatively safe

"Keep her alive," I ri rubble jerked my attention back to the beach where a black, oily smoke drifted from the person-size crater

"I can hear youRachel," Ku’Sox ed back to "

I couldn’t help it, and I heldMy heart pounded, and sweat made clean tracks in the dust onnothing Come on, Vivian

"Hoeet of you to have co closer "It took six demons to shove me under that rock they built the arch over, and I killed one of theot Newt, too Sweet little Newt,than you, even after I had convinced her to kill all her sisters You should have waited until dark Al can’t help you, but at least you wouldn’t die alone"

"I don’t need Al’s help to squish a bug like you," I said, teeth gritted as I atte to be quiet, I pulled away froh n itself Pieces of me that didn’t fit, chunks of Ku’Sox’s curse Slowly I gathered the for bells Just one But there was nothing

"Don’t need Al’s help?" he said, and with a sideways step, the demon appeared from behind the side of the old bathroom, cocky and sure of himself with the sun in his hair and his lips curved up in amusement Crap, he was alht," he finished, s